David Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 2, 2019
Docket18-3172
StatusUnpublished

This text of David Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio (David Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
David Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, (6th Cir. 2019).

Opinion

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 19a0168n.06

No. 18-3172

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

FILED DAVID O. COOPER, ) Apr 02, 2019 ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) ) MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO SHERIFF’S ) ON APPEAL FROM DEPARTMENT; LIEUTENANT MONTGOMERY ) THE UNITED STATES COUNTY, OHIO SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, Second ) DISTRICT COURT Shift; MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO SHERIFF’S ) FOR THE SOUTHERN DEPARTMENT, Doe Deputies All Sued in their Official ) DISTRICT OF OHIO and Individual Capacities; MAJOR DARYL WILSON; ) MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO; CAPTAIN CHUCK ) CROSBY, ) ) Defendants-Appellees, ) ) )

BEFORE: CLAY, McKEAGUE, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.

HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-Appellant David Cooper was a pretrial detainee at Montgomery County Jail for

approximately eight months in 2012. After Cooper attempted to harm himself several times,

Cooper was housed in the receiving area of the jail for several months with no mattress, no blanket,

constant lighting, and frequent loud noises. As a result, Cooper alleges that Defendants-Appellees

were deliberately indifferent to his serious psychiatric needs and provided him with

unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The district court granted summary judgment in favor

of Defendants-Appellees Captain Chuck Crosby (Captain Crosby) and Major Daryl Wilson (Major No. 18-3172, Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, et al.

Wilson), granted summary judgment in favor of Defendant-Appellee Montgomery County on

Cooper’s psychiatric-needs claim, but denied summary judgment on Cooper’s conditions-of-

confinement claim against the County. After a jury verdict in favor of the County on Cooper’s

conditions-of-confinement claim, Cooper now appeals the district court’s summary judgment

rulings against him. We affirm.

I.1

Cooper has a long history of mental-health disorders. He was diagnosed with ADHD at

age 6; borderline personality disorder and schizoaffective disorder around age 13; and as bipolar

manic sometime later. He had been cutting himself since he was 12 or 13 years old and engaging

in other self-harming behavior since he was around 5 years old.

Cooper arrived at Montgomery County Jail on February 29, 2012, as a pretrial detainee

facing robbery and other charges. Upon arrival, he was given a mental-health assessment and

placed in the general jail population where he had a bunk bed. Another detainee “got in trouble

with his meds so they cut everybody off in [Cooper’s] little pod, off of certain psych meds that

were in there because guys were abusing them.” (R. 104, PID 469.)2 Cooper did not respond well.

On June 6, 2012, Cooper was sent to the hospital after he used a spoon to severely cut his arm and

swallowed a large bolt. He returned to the Montgomery County Jail and was placed in the

receiving area of the jail, with corrections officers constantly in the general area to monitor him.

The receiving area was loud, bright lights were always on, and Cooper was not provided a bed,

mattress, or blankets. He had to sleep either on the concrete floor—freezing cold from air

1 In considering Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the district court was required to view the evidence and draw all reasonable factual inferences in Cooper’s favor. Accordingly, we recite Cooper’s version of the facts, except where otherwise noted. 2 Although it is not clear when, Cooper was eventually provided medication for his mental-health issues and does not assert a claim for being deprived of medication.

-2- No. 18-3172, Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, et al.

conditioning being blown on it—or the toilet. He was “so miserable” that “sometimes [he] would

just [harm himself] to be able to . . . go out to the hospital, get some rest . . . because it was so bad

[he] couldn’t sleep.” (Id. at PID 477.)

Cooper thus continued to harm himself. On June 11, Cooper pulled out his stitches and

stuck a piece of metal in his arm. On June 27, Cooper cut himself with a plastic cup. On July 17,

Cooper removed and ingested the stitches or staples in his arm. On July 30, Cooper claimed to

have swallowed a toothbrush, and on August 8, he swallowed paper clips. He also attempted to

eat his mattress and lodged a piece of plastic in his urethra. On at least two occasions, Cooper was

sent to Summit Behavioral Health in Cincinnati before being returned to Montgomery County Jail.

Cooper informed corrections officers that he was hearing voices and wanted to hurt

himself. He also repeatedly asked for a mattress so that he could sleep. In particular, Cooper

spoke with Major Wilson and Captain Crosby frequently about the lack of a mattress, as well as

the food he was being served. Captain Crosby is the administrative captain of the jail, whose office

is near the receiving area where Cooper was held; Major Wilson, who was often in Captain

Crosby’s office, was the highest-ranking sheriff’s department official at the jail. Captain Crosby

and Major Wilson declined to provide a mattress, claiming that they needed to talk to mental-

health professionals about the issue.

On June 27, Cooper’s mother, Kathy Cooper, wrote a letter to Montgomery County Sheriff

Phil Plummer, complaining that the jail failed to take the necessary precaution of making sure

Cooper did not have access to materials he could use to harm himself. Ms. Cooper also had

numerous conversations with Captain Crosby about the unsafe conditions of Cooper’s

confinement, including the lack of a mattress and a blanket, Cooper’s diet, and the access Cooper

had to materials he could use to harm himself. On at least one occasion, mental-health staff and

-3- No. 18-3172, Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, et al.

Major Wilson were also present. They assured Ms. Cooper that Cooper was given medical

treatment when necessary, but admitted that they did not know how to deal with someone like

Cooper: “They are not equipped to handle him is what Captain Crosby said. They are just a

detainee facility . . . .” (R. 113 at 25-26.)

Captain Crosby acknowledged that Cooper was an “extraordinary inmate” and they “had

[their] hands full” with him. (R. 116, PID 1048, 1067.) Captain Crosby explained that he was

communicating frequently with Samaritan Behavioral Health and his supervisors because he had

never experienced an inmate like Cooper before, and he relied heavily on Samaritan Behavioral

Health and NaphCare, contractors who provide medical services in the jail. Captain Crosby

remembers discussing a suicide mattress—a tear-resistant mattress—with Major Wilson, but he

does not remember if the facility purchased one for Cooper. Major Wilson testified that Cooper

challenged corrections officers to obtain a suicide mattress and that he had conversations with staff

about obtaining one, although he believed that they did not have a suicide mattress at the time.

Major Wilson testified that the decision to take a mattress from an inmate is based on consultation

with medical staff. He also noted that Cooper complained about the lack of a mattress, but that

removing the mattress from him was necessary because “he would use anything he could to harm

himself.” (R. 118 at 75.)

Jail records from July and August document that Cooper consistently asked for a mattress,

threatening to harm himself if he did not get one, and was sometimes incoherent, potentially from

lack of sleep. Jail personnel responded that Cooper had “to prove that he will not harm himself.”

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David Cooper v. Montgomery Cty., Ohio, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/david-cooper-v-montgomery-cty-ohio-ca6-2019.